Hymn to Soma
Rigveda III.48 is a sūkta (hymn of praise) from Maṇḍala 3 of the Rigveda, one of the 1,028 hymns organized within the ten books of the oldest Veda. The Rigveda was composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE in Vedic Sanskrit and preserved through oral transmission across millennia.
This is a Good Works Translation produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the Sanskrit of the Śākala recension.
O Indra, tell us of thy birth and of thy first great deed — the day when thou didst drink the soma for the very first time! Even as a newborn, thou wast not weak as other babes are weak. No sooner hadst thou emerged from thy mother's womb than thou didst make thy will manifest in the universe.
Thou didst see the soma plant, that sacred draught which all the Devas desired for themselves. The other gods had been unable to possess it; it lay guarded in a distant realm, inaccessible and forbidden. But thou, having only just been born, didst declare that thou wouldst drink of it or know the reason why.
And so thou didst journey to the place where the soma grew, and those who would have stopped thee found themselves unable to do so. Thy power was too great; thy determination too fierce. When thou didst drink of the sacred juice, the very heavens split open. Lightning crackled from thy body; thunder rolled in thy voice.
Strengthened and empowered by the soma, thou didst immediately undertake thy first great task — the slaying of the serpent Vṛtra, that ancient foe of the gods and of creation itself. For ages, Vṛtra had coiled in the depths, holding the waters in bondage and casting darkness over all the worlds. But thou didst rise up with thy newly-acquired strength, thy newly-awakened power, and thou didst smite him down.
The blow was so mighty that the cosmos shook. The waters burst forth from their ancient prison, and they flowed down upon the earth in blessing. The light returned to the world; the creatures rejoiced; the people sang songs of thanksgiving.
Thus did thy birth lead to thy first deed, and thy first deed established thee as the mightiest of all the gods. From that moment onward, thy power hath been acknowledged by all creation. O Indra, praise be to thee for thy miraculous birth and thy incomparable first victory!
Colophon
This hymn is drawn from the Śākala recension of the Rigveda, composed approximately 1700–1100 BCE. This is a Good Works Translation produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, translated independently from the Sanskrit. Reference translations consulted during original translation are to be documented during audit.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: ṛgveda III.48
Sanskrit source text from the Aufrecht edition (1877) via GRETIL (Van Nooten & Holland input). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
sadyo ha jāto vṛṣabhaḥ kanīnaḥ prabhartum āvad andhasaḥ sutasya |
sādhoḥ piba pratikāmaṁ yathā te rasāśiraḥ prathamaṁ somyasya || 1 ||
yaj jāyathās tad ahar asya kāme 'ṁśoḥ pīyūṣam apibo giriṣṭhām |
taṁ te mātā pari yoṣā janitrī mahaḥ pitur dama āsiñcad agre || 2 ||
upasthāya mātaram annam aiṭṭa tigmam apaśyad abhi somam ūdhaḥ |
prayāvayann acarad gṛtso anyān mahāni cakre purudhapratīkaḥ || 3 ||
ugras turāṣāḻ abhibhūtyojā yathāvaśaṁ tanvaṁ cakra eṣaḥ |
tvaṣṭāram indro januṣābhibhūyāmuṣyā somam apibac camūṣu || 4 ||
śunaṁ huvema maghavānam indram asmin bhare nṛtamaṁ vājasātau |
śṛṇvantam ugram ūtaye samatsu ghnantaṁ vṛtrāṇi saṁjitaṁ dhanānām || 5 ||
Source Colophon
Sanskrit text of the Rigveda, Śākala recension. The standard scholarly edition is the Bombay Oriental (Vishva Bandhu, 5 vols., 1963–66). IAST transliteration available from GRETIL (Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages) and Vedaweb (University of Cologne). Both sources are open access. IAST transliteration from the Aufrecht edition (1877) via GRETIL (Van Nooten & Holland input, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
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